


Even in death

by dasyuridae



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-adjacent, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 05:49:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15723255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasyuridae/pseuds/dasyuridae
Summary: The Raven Queen is starting to suspect something is up with her favourite reaper.{Taakitz told from the Raven Queen's POV}





	Even in death

**Author's Note:**

> does it count as studying for my test tomorrow if i call it something stupid like 'the logistic growth of love'?

"You asked to see me?" asked Kravitz, looking into the sharp black eyes of his Queen.  
She smiled from where she was sitting behind a desk, raven's feather quill held lightly in her hand. "Yes, I did. How did the bounty hunting go, Kravitz? I felt a disruption earlier and I thought that maybe you encountered a problem?"  
The reaper tucked his hands behind his back, fingers twisting together nervously. "Ah. About that. You know I'm partial to a game of cards, and, well-"  
The Raven Queen laughed. "You lost, didn't you? No worries, they are the rules. Keep an eye on the bounties though, and next time leave the cards at home. And the dice. And- what was it that time? Scrabble?"  
"Of course, your highness. Do you- No, it doesn't matter. Um. Anything else?"  
She raised a thin black eyebrow but didn't say anything. "No Kravitz, that will be all. Have a break, champ."  
Kravitz nodded and bowed deep before stepping through a planar rift and vanishing from the throne room. The Raven Queen put her chin in her hand and stared at the spot he had stood. Strange. 

\--------

"Kravitz!" shouted the Raven Queen, staring at the book open in front of her.   
"Your highness?" said the reaper as he materialised in front of her.   
"Gary from records just sent me this and I can't believe it. You know those bounties? The ones who have died hundreds of times, the ones who turned up one day out of nowhere? Look at this!"  
Kravitz walked over and peered at the page she was pointing at. Taako, Merle, Magnus. They had all added to their death count. He was fairly sure he had made it clear that that was the exact opposite of what they should do. "What's it from?"  
"Looks like they paid a visit to that town, Refuge? We've been keeping an eye on them and as far as I can tell those three might have stopped repeats of the loop they were in. So I guess we should thank them, in a way. Nonetheless, this is getting ridiculous! I know Istus told us to leave them alone but I just have to know how this keeps happening. Could I send you, Kravitz? Not to arrest them just to... talk. Investigate."  
She saw Kravitz gulp. "Now? Oh, gosh. Do I look okay?" He brushed nonexistent dust off the front of his suit.  
"Do you need to? You look fine Kravitz, I don't think they'll care."  
"Oh. Oh, yeah, of course. Doesn't matter what I look like! Haha!" He grinned, a little stiffly, and dematerialised from her room.  
The Raven Queen leaned back on her chair. Something was up with Kravitz. He wouldn't normally be so nervous about a routine mission, especially when he didn't even have to reap the bounties. Ah well. He'd tell her when he was ready. Her job was just to make sure that that time came as soon as possible, preferably before she died of curiosity.

\---------

"Sorry I had to call you away, the bounty came up and I thought it was more important than our curiosity."   
"No worries!" said Kravitz, with a tiny smile. "I'm sorry I didn't find out anything useful about the bounties but I'll um. Keep investigating."  
"Great," said the Raven Queen, "I might talk to Istus and see if she won't tell me anything else. You know her, she'll keep everything a secret if she can."  
The reaper looked at her with bright eyes. "You love visiting her, don't you?"  
She laughed, shrugging slightly. "It's hard to find friends when you're the goddess of Death! Even harder to find- hm. Well. I'm sure you understand that it can be difficult to find people among the living."  
Kravitz's face fell suddenly and he ducked his head, glancing away from her. "Yes. It's difficult. Well, your highness, I should go. Have fun with Istus."   
Then he was gone and the Raven Queen grimaced. She had stuck her foot in her mouth somehow, but she didn't know why. She had often talked to Kravitz about the difficulty of forming relationships with the living, encouraged him to get out and about. Why did it hurt him now?

\----------

The Raven Queen had decided to go for a walk, wandering the headquarters, nodding at employees as she stretched her legs. Suddenly she heard a gentle humming from around the corner. It was happy and rhythmic and she paused for a second before recognising it. Fantasy ABBA? She sped up to see who was humming it and found herself staring at Kravitz as he walked away from her. There was a spring to his step and there he was, humming. She hadn't heard him sing, or even hum, in a long time.   
"Kravitz?" she said.  
He jumped and turned to look at her, just as whatever he was holding flew out of his hands and shattered on the hard stone floor.  
"Oh my gosh, Kravitz, I'm sorry! What was it?"  
The reaper was staring at the pieces, frowning. "A vase."   
The Raven Queen crouched down, picking up one of the shards of clay. "We can get you another one if you want Kravitz."  
He knelt beside her, staring to collect the pieces. "No, it's okay. It's stupid, but, you know. Another one wouldn't be the same. I don't even need a vase. Anyway, do you know of any liches being seen around lately? New ones, I mean. Not the one in the red."  
She looked at him, trying to see if he was sad, but couldn't tell through his carefully neutral face. "No, not that I've heard of. Why?"  
"Just thought I felt something, but I may have imagined it." Kravitz held the broken pieces of vase in his arms and stood up. "I'll be off, unless you need something?"  
"No, I'm okay. Sorry about the vase Kravitz."  
He nodded and kept walking, towards his quarters. He wasn't humming anymore. 

\----------

Kravitz was happy, unusually happy, and the Raven Queen was determined to find out why. She had been worried after the incident with the vase, worried that she had hurt his feelings more than she knew. She needn't have worried. Pretty soon he was back to humming, walking around with a spring in his step. The Raven Queen thought she had caught a glimpse of him with a bouquet of flowers, although she may have been imagining that. She was starting to put together a theory about what was up with him, partially influenced by Istus' non-subtle questioning about Kravitz. Then, of course, it dropped off her list of priorities. Suddenly she couldn't reach Kravitz, couldn't reach anything. All she did was fight and struggle to break through the Hunger, to somehow reach the world she loved. Even once the battle was over there were more important things to worry about. So many people had died that day. There were so many things to fix, to put back in order, that she forgot about the mystery of Kravitz's joy. So it was a surprise when she heard a knock on the door one day and Kravitz stepped through, a beautiful elf with him.  
"Kravitz is that-" she narrowed her eyes, "Taako?"  
"My reputation precedes me!" said the elf, giving her a cheeky grin.  
Kravitz looked nervous. "How do you- Oh. The voidfish."  
"That, and that he is one of my biggest ever bounties and I just offered his twin sister a job." The Raven Queen grinned. Despite his history as a death criminal, something about Taako made her smile. He was bright, in this building of black feathers and bones.  
"Well I thought I should let you know that, uh. Me and Taako are together. Like, you know. He's my boyfriend." Kravitz still looked nervous, but now he had a smile as he reached out and took Taako's hand.  
"Oh my god! Of course, I should have guessed. I knew there was a reason you were so happy!" The Raven Queen smiled gently at Kravitz. "I'm happy for you. Take a few days off."  
Taako smiled and bumped into Kravitz. "You were happy? Nerd." he murmured.   
The reaper laughed and nodded his thanks to his goddess, and then the two of them were gone, dematerialising from the room with their hands clamped tight together. The Raven Queen sat for a moment, thinking about Kravitz and how happy he'd seemed when he was dating Taako. Then she thought about the fact that her two newest reapers were both related to Taako, and about Istus' small smile when she asked about Kravitz. Sitting on her throne of bones, in a dark room lit with flickering lamps, the goddess of death thought about Fantasy ABBA and laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this scrappy little thing! Catch me at itsbluejeansbitch.tumblr.com for a good ol' fashioned taz chat


End file.
